Adam Milstein | |
|---|---|
אדם מילשטיין | |
| Born | 1952 (age 73–74)[1] Haifa, Israel |
| Education | Technion (BSc) USC (MBA) |
| Occupations |
|
| Title | Chairman of the Israeli-American Council Managing Partner of Hager Pacific Properties |
| Spouse | Gila Milstein |
| Children | 3 |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | Israel |
| Branch | Israel Defense Forces |
| Service years | 1971–1974 |
| Conflicts | Yom Kippur War |
Adam Milstein (Hebrew: אדם מילשטיין; born 1952) is an Israeli-American investor and philanthropist. He is a managing partner at Hager Pacific Properties.
He founded and funded organizations supporting Jewish causes, and organizations advocating support for Israel, including countering anti-Israel initiatives such as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.[2] He and his wife, Gila, founded the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation in 2000. He is a co-founder of the Israeli-American Council (IAC) and served as chairman from 2015 to 2019.[3]
Early life and education
[edit]Milstein was born in Haifa, Israel, the eldest child of Eva (née Temkin), a homemaker, and Hillel Milstein, a real estate developer. The family later lived in Kiryat Yam and Kiryat Motzkin.[4]
He was conscripted into the Israel Defense Forces in 1971, and served during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. After being discharged, he enrolled in the Technion and graduated in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering.[5] While in college, he worked with his father to expand the family's real estate construction and development business.
He married Gila Elgrably in Haifa in 1974. They moved to Los Angeles with their two daughters in 1981.[4] He received an MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business in 1983 and started working in commercial real estate as a sales agent.
Investment career
[edit]Milstein is a managing partner of Hager Pacific Properties, overseeing the firm's financing, disposition and accounting. The firm specializes in acquiring, rehabilitating and repositioning industrial, retail, office, and multi-family properties.[5]
Philanthropy and political donations
[edit]Milstein and his wife Gila founded the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation in 2000. The organization sponsors education of students and young professionals to identify with their Jewish roots and gain knowledge to advocate for the State of Israel and the Jewish people.[4]
Milstein co-founded the Israeli American Council in 2007 and was named chairman of the group in 2015.[6][7][8] He sits on the boards of StandWithUs and Hasbara Fellowships.[9] He previously served on the boards of Israel on Campus Coalition, Jewish Funders Network, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) National Council.[10] He joined Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban in June 2015 to organize the inaugural Campus Maccabees summit, which opposes Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) groups and activities on college campuses in the United States.[11] He strongly opposes the BDS movement, and has had several opinion pieces published on the subject.[12][13]
Milstein donated $1,000 to UCLA Hillel in 2014. According to the Daily Cal, Milstein requested other community members should send donations to Hillel earmarked for "UCLA Student Government Leaders."[14] The UCLA campus election code does not require the disclosure of campaign funding sources. According to Milstein, neither he nor his foundation gave money to Avi Ovid or Bruins United.[15]
They started "The Impact Forum" in 2016 an initiative which "fights antisemitism, strengthens the state of Israel, and protects American democracy".[16][17]
Personal life
[edit]Milstein pled guilty to tax evasion involving his donations to the Spinka Hasidic sect in 2009[18] and served three months in prison, was required to do 600 hours of community service, and paid a $30,000 fine.[10]
The Jerusalem Post selected him for its list of the 50 most influential Jews in the world in 2016.[1] Algemeiner Journal named him to its list, "The Top 100 People Positively Influencing Jewish Life" in 2015 and 2016.[19] In Gil Troy's book, The Zionist Ideas: Visions for the Jewish Homeland—Then, Now, Tomorrow (2018), he identified Milstein as a contemporary leader of cultural Zionism for his vision to "invigorate Zionism and Jewish identity" worldwide.[20]
He withdrew from speaking at the 2019 AIPAC conference after he posted tweets connecting Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib to the Muslim Brotherhood. Milstein said his views as expressed on Twitter had been "mischaracterized."[21]
He lives in Encino, California with his wife. They have three daughters and three grandchildren.[4][22]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Jerusalem Post 50 Most Influential Jews: Number 39 - Adam Milstein Orthodox Jew". The Jerusalem Post. September 29, 2016.
- ^ "We Will Boycott the Boycotters and Make them Illegal". Arutz7. 9 June 2015.
- ^ David Fournier (May 14, 2020). "Meet Adam Milstein: Real Estate Investor and Active Philanthropist elected as one of Top 50 Zionist Influencers of 2020". TMC. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
- ^ a b c d Wilson, Despina (July 6, 2025). "The Family Man Behind the Foundation: Adam Milstein's Personal Journey". CEOWorld Magazine.
- ^ a b "Adam Milstein: Jewish America's Strategic Voice". CEO Today. July 9, 2025.
- ^ "Why we set up the Israeli-American Council". Times of Israel.
- ^ "The Israeli-Americans: Who they are, what they want, where they're headed, why they matter". Jewish Journal. May 14, 2015.
- ^ "Israelis will power the future of American Jewry, IAC chair says". JTA. October 31, 2017.
- ^ "Gila & Adam Milstein". Merona Leadership Foundation. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
- ^ a b Kane, Alex (March 25, 2019). "Right-wing donor Adam Milstein has spent millions of dollars to stifle the BDS movement and attack critics of Israeli policy". The Intercept.
- ^ Guttman, Nathan (2015-06-09). "Secret Sheldon Adelson Summit Raises up to $50M for Strident Anti-BDS Push". The Forward. Retrieved 2025-10-24.
- ^ "IAC head Milstein urges: Boycott the boycotters". The Jerusalem Post. May 22, 2016.
- ^ Linde, Steve (April 25, 2016). "The Israeli-American connector". The Jerusalem Post.
- ^ Hunt, Chloe (4 July 2014). "Funds to UCLA student political party came from outside sources, leaked emails show". www.dailycal.org. Retrieved 23 November 2025.
- ^ "UCLA Jewish regent accused of improper campaign donations". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 2014-07-02.
- ^ "Food, money and Jews". Jewish Journal. August 3, 2017.
- ^ Alan Rosenbaum (April 8, 2024). "'Our mission is to fight antisemitism, strengthen the state of Israel, protect American democracy'". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
- ^ Bamford, James (May 16, 2024). "The Israel-Affiliated Organization Leading the Backlash Against Student Protests". The Nation. Retrieved 2025-07-15.
- ^ Ireland, Sophie (July 15, 2020). "Adam Milstein: changing the world through education and grassroots advocacy". CEOWORLD. Retrieved 2025-10-31.
- ^ Troy, Gil (2018). The Zionist Ideas: Visions for the Jewish Homeland—Then, Now, Tomorrow. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 469–471.
- ^ Ron Kampeas (2019-03-19). "Prominent pro-Israel donor pulls out of AIPAC conference after saying two Muslim lawmakers 'clash' with American values". JTA.
- ^ "Adam Milstein". Hager Pacific. Archived from the original on 2013-07-27.